Inclusion in Ukraine: first implementation experience in expert's assessments

In: Ukrainian society, Volume 75, Issue 4, p. 113-124

Abstract

The article considers the situation of inclusive education implementation in general secondary education institutions of Ukraine, which should provide quality education to all applicants. Providing quality and accessible education, including secondary education, realises every individual's right full, economically independent life through obtaining an education, and the profession later on. This will allow one to become a complete actor in all social processes; it will help overcome social exclusion. The author specifies the definition of exclusion and outlines social groups of excluded, which are represented not only by people with health problems but also by those who find themselves in difficult life circumstances, such as migration, resettlement, and being in a new socio-cultural environment, etc. Special attention is paid to the social group of talented children who require particular professional sensitivity. Paper emphases the peculiarities of the organisation of education of children with disabilities according to the traditional system, which was inherited from the Soviet Union, and forms the idea of changing approaches to the special children's educational process. The situation regarding the real state of implementing inclusive technology, which was massively initiated in educational institutions of general secondary education, is outlined. The results of expert interviews are analysed, which allows the author to determine the achievements in implementing the concept of inclusion in the educational process; the first challenges faced by direct participants in the inclusive educational process, the main risks and expectations of managers in education. Recommendations for optimising the educational process based on the inclusion are offered.